Axemen suffer first lost on weekend trip to NB

The U SPORTS No. 9 ranked Acadia Axemen soccer team suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of host UNB this past Saturday afternoon.

The UNB Reds rode an early goal and a late insurance marker to their first win of the season, a 2-0 upset of the first place Axemen.

Tristan Nkoghe scored the game's first goal in the 4th minute, a long shot that seemed to fool Axemen keeper Pietro Nottegar.

"I turned and saw that I was open, so I just shot and it went in," said Nkoghe, who was named Subway Player of the Game. "I think he(Nottegar) misplayed it a bit, so that's where I was lucky, but you don't score on the shots you don't take."

Grant Takacs scored in the 89th minute, after catching the Acadia defense pushing forward. Takacs took a pass from Ben Gorringe beat one defender and fired a sharp shot past Nottegar.

The final whistle blew moments later.

Fourth-year Axemen defender Zach Visser was frustrated with the team's first loss.

"We were coming off four wins and I think some guys were starting to get a little complacent and didn't realize that games in this league were going to be tough," he said.

Visser says Nkoghe's goal, so early in the game, was a setback.

"That early goal really killed us," he said. "We came back after that and started taking it to them. I thought we had a lot of chances, a couple of screamers that went wide and some good crosses and opportunities, but that early goal hurt us coming out of the gate."

In the Axemen rebounded from their first loss with a 2-0 win over Mount Allison.

In the 23rd minute when Spencer Buck found the back of the Mounties net on a header from a disputed freekick. 

Tyler Connoly would step up and score from the penalty spot giving the Axemen a 2-0 lead late in the second half.

The Axemen will have a challenge this coming weekend as they visit the StFX X-Men in Antigonish. U SPORTS No. 10 ranked X-Men on Sunday. StFX has a 4-1-1- record, while the Axemen retain first place with a 5-1-0 record.

 RECAP AND PHOTOS BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics